Today we publish our decision paper on the introduction of licence modifications regarding digitalisation to NIE Networks’ Transmission and Distribution and SONI’s electricity licenses.
Our decision follows on from our consultation which was published on 1 October 2024 and asked for stakeholder views on the new draft licence condition requiring NIE Networks and SONI to develop, publish and periodically update a joint digitalisation strategy and action plan.
We received three responses to the consultation which closed on 26 November 2024, from:
- SONI;
- NIE Networks; and
- Consumer Council Northern Ireland.
The responses, along with all of the annexes are available here.
The consultation responses can be viewed in full as Annexes E, F and G. A summary of the responses and our comments can be found at Annex H.
We also posed additional questions to seek wider views on energy system data and digitalisation. We welcome the feedback received and have summarised those responses in Annex I.
Following careful consideration of the points raised we have decided to proceed with no material changes. The licence conditions can be viewed in full in Annexes B, C and D.
The Utility Regulator therefore gives notice of its intention to introduce new electricity licence conditions which require both SONI and NIE Networks Ltd (Transmission and Distribution) to produce a joint framework for digitalising and sharing data which will benefit customers and are aligned with stakeholders needs. The relevant statutory notices under Article 14(8) of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 can be found in Annexes J, K and L.
The principal purpose of these modifications is to implement and give legal effect to our policy position, as set out in the consultation previously and the decision paper.
All of the annexes are available on our website.